S3 Ep03: Rhapsodian Hunt Part 1
by Senderj
Summary: Someone has gone down to Earth to capture Rhapsodians. Can the MBC protect them?
1. Chapter 1

**MONSTER BUSTER CLUB**

Season 3 Episode 3

Rhapsodian Hunt (Part 1)

Chapter 1

**(Cathy POV)**

Mr. Fusster walked into the classroom, holding the Rhapsodian puzzle stick (as seen in episode 'The Trouble with Troublemaking'). Then he sat down and did a few twists on the stick without saying a word. Chris raised his hand.

"Sir," he said. "It's been a long time since I last saw that puzzle stick in your hands. Have you solved it yet?"

"Not yet," Mr. Fusster replied. "While I am doing this, all of you have to choose a partner and decide on the topic of your next science project."

"Another science project," moaned Sam. She turned to me and said, "I was beginning to agree with you that science class is boring. We had these meaningless projects almost once a week."

"It's lucky that we've got no aliens to bust," I said. "That gives us plenty of time to work on the project. Oh, and, could you be my …"

Chris turned towards Sam and interrupted me.

"Sam," he said. "Could you be my partner?"

'What!' I thought. 'I was going to say that!'

Sam looked a bit shocked at first but she finally agreed.

"Sure, Chris," she said. "I'll be your partner."

'Now who will be my partner?' I thought.

Someone tapped my shoulder. It was Jeremy.

"Cathy," he said. "Could you …"

"Don't you even think of it!" I interrupted him.

I was hoping that Danny could be my partner but it seemed that he was more interested in Wendy.

"That puzzle stick is nothing," Danny said to Wendy. "The Danny can solve it within a minute. How about doing a project about the puzzle stick?"

"It was like totally easy to solve," said Wendy. "What's so interesting about that? And I won't be your partner to get another C minus!"

'That's my chance!' I thought.

Before I could speak, Elton spoke near my ears.

"You want a partner? Why don't you choose me?" he asked.

"You will be leaving this planet tomorrow," I whispered. "And I don't want annoying mindreaders who keep telling me this and that as a partner."

"Annoying? Do I sound annoying to you?" he shouted and jumped from his chair behind me.

I had no idea why I said that, perhaps I really wanted Danny to be my partner but not anyone else. I was shocked that he shouted so loudly that everyone in class was looking at him. His voice had never been that loud.

'Sorry Elton, I didn't mean it,' I thought. I knew he could read that.

He became calm again and sat down.

"I told you to discuss quietly," said Mr. Fusster. "Not to shout like that."

"If I were you," Elton said to Mr. Fusster. "I would rethink what happened in your life that made you so stupid that you couldn't even solve the easiest puzzle stick. In fact, you weren't trying to solve it. Over the past few minutes you were just thinking whether you should go out for dinner with the beautiful lady you met yesterday. You really should concentrate in class."

I was shocked again when Elton said that. Even though I knew that he could read Mr. Fusster's mind, why would he say that directly to him?

Mr. Fusster's face went read instantly. He was shocked but also furious.

"This is outrageous!" he shouted. "You're in detention for the next two weeks!"

"I don't really mind," said Elton. "In fact, I'll be leaving this school tomorrow so that only gives me one day of detention."

The school bell rang and Mr. Fusster marched grumpily out of the classroom, leaving everyone else behind.

"Elton!" I said. "What were you thinking?"

"What?" he asked. "I was just showing off my mindreading powers."

"You did that just to show off?" asked Danny. "Everyone was shocked instead of impressed. Although I don't think that anyone in class other than us will know about your powers, that was a good way to get back at Fusster."

"Thanks, Danny," said Elton. "I see that you understand my thoughts."

"But you're in detention now," said Sam. "And that can't be good."

"Don't worry," said Danny. "I've volunteered to be in charge of the detention room today. I bet Elton read my mind and learned this before he started to argue with Fusster. Right, Elton?"

"That's exactly correct, Danny," said Elton. "Of course I knew that you're in charge of the detention room today. We'll have lots to talk about."

I couldn't understand how Danny could make friends with Elton. For a moment I thought that he disliked him for revealing all of his secrets. But Danny was really a popular guy in school, and I believed he treated everyone in a friendly way.

"Hey, take a look at this," said Chris. "Mr. Fusster had left the Rhapsodian puzzle stick on his desk."

"It's your turn, Chris," said Danny. "I'm the first human to solve it. See if you can be the second one."

"Anyway, it's time for your detention, Elton," said Sam. "Danny, you watch over Elton and make sure that he doesn't …"

"Get into trouble?" said Elton. "Come on, when have I ever caused trouble?"

We all looked at him and thought about the same thing.

"Alright," Elton broke the silence. "Maybe once or twice."

"Don't worry," said Danny. "The Danny has everything under control."

The four of us accompanied Elton to the detention room.

**(Danny POV)**

"Here we are," I said as soon as we arrived at the detention room.

"Chris, can you lend me the puzzle stick for a while?" I asked. "I want to talk about it with Elton. I'll give you back when I return to the clubhouse."

"Sure," he said and he lent me the puzzle stick.

Cathy, Chris and Sam said goodbye to us and walked out of the room.

Before I could speak to Elton, Wendy called me from outside the room.

"Danny," she said. "Can you like come out for a minute?"

I nodded quickly and rushed out of the room.

"Wendy, it's … so good to see you," I said. "What's the matter?"

"I have totally no idea of what my science project is about," she said. "It's like, what's so brilliant about the puzzle stick you're holding?"

"Well," I said. "You can … rotate it around … and … its inner structure is unique so that … somehow relates to … physics."

"Sounds boring to me," she said.

"Maybe we can just do some more research together," I suggested.

"We?" she asked. "I've already got a partner."

Then she walked away from me without saying goodbye. I was still looking at her back before she disappeared from my sight.

'Perhaps she isn't really the kind of girl that I want,' I thought.

"HELP!" someone shouted in the detention room. It must be Elton!

I dashed inside and saw that he was held in the air by a Pincher Bot (as seen in episode 'Mindreader')! Another Pincher Bot was near it.

"Danny to MBC," I said to my v-com. "Trouble in the detention room. Two Pincher Bots have got Elton!"

"Copy that," said Sam. "We'll be right there."

'Last time when I fought these Pincher Bots, I found their weakness,' I thought. 'They can be destroyed by hitting their control panel on the lower side of the body with a heavy object.'

I picked up a wooden chair and threw it at the control panel. The chair hit it but the bot wasn't affected. Then the bot picked up the chair and threw it at me. I jumped and avoided it. Then I transformed into my MBC uniform.

I took out my blaster and shot the control panel several times but there was still no effect. It seemed that there was some sort of energy shield covering the control panel that was protecting it.

I carefully avoided the chairs that the Pincher Bots threw at me and changed my blaster into a big gun. I fired at one of the Bots but it dodged the blue beam with its large clamp. The other one was trying to escape with Elton!

I aimed at the bot but I was afraid that I would hurt Elton. So instead of blasting it, I threw another chair at the other side of the bot so that it won't hit Elton. The Pincher Bot lost balance and dropped Elton to the floor. I held up my gun and blasted it to the wall. It fell onto the floor and seemed malfunctioned.

Elton stood up quickly and transformed into his MBC uniform, but the other Pincher Bot acted even more quickly and swung his clamp at me. I wasn't able to react and was thrown to the wall and fell onto the floor. Elton took out his blaster at fired several shots at the bot but it dodged all the shots with its clamp. It got close to Elton and knocked his blaster off his hand. Then it held him tightly with its clamp and quickly flew out of the window. I ran to the window but there was no sign of Elton or the bot.

Cathy, Chris and Sam burst into the room in their uniforms and with their blasters in their hands. They noticed the damaged Pincher Bot on the floor.

"Where's Elton?" asked Cathy.

"You would have seen him if you arrived ten seconds earlier," I replied. "He's taken away by another Pincher Bot. It just flew out of the window."

"What are these Pincher Bots doing on Earth?" asked Sam.

"I'm not sure," I said. "They had been here before and tried to capture Elton for his mindreading powers. Remember?"

"Yes, I remember," said Chris. "But let's take this damaged bot back to the clubhouse and examine it with a closer look."

The four of us carried the damaged Pincher Bot into our lockers. I put the bot into my pod and we went back to the clubhouse.

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	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

**(Chris POV)**

As soon as we were inside the clubhouse, we saw John sitting in front of the computer. I really didn't know why I could always find him in the clubhouse.

"John," I said. "This is the MBC headquarters. How many times do I have to tell you that only official members can enter the clubhouse?"

"Sorry, bro," said John. "I was just going to …"

"Whatever," Danny interrupted him. "We accept your apology, but we really have serious business to do. A Pincher Bot captured Elton, and we don't even know where it is heading to or what does it want."

"I see," said John. "But I can help."

"How?" I asked.

"As always," he replied. "I'll sit here by the computer. While you guys go and rescue Elton, I'll provide the latest information to you."

"Alright then," said Sam. "But we'll still need to do some research before we go into action."

I sat in front of the computer and searched for information about the Pincher Bots. Danny and Cathy took the damaged bot out of Danny's pod and carefully placed it on the analysis panel to let the computer inspect it.

"The Pincher Bots that I've just met in school were different from those that we met last time," said Danny. "They seemed smarter and they also had an energy shield protecting their control panel. Even when I hit it with a hard object, they didn't seem to be affected."

"That's true," said John. "The computer analysis shows that their control panel is protected by a thin layer of energy shield."

"That means the trick I taught you guys to destroy Pincher Bots won't work anymore," I said. "From now on, we must rely on our gadgets."

"What else can you read from this damaged bot?" said Sam.

"Try its memory storage in its head," said Danny. "It might give us some images that it has seen before."

Cathy took out the memory storage device from the bot's head and connected it to the computer. I browsed the files stored inside.

"They received commands from the leader bot," I said. "And it looks just like the red Pincher Bot we destroyed last time!"

"Negative," said Danny. "The Danny was the one who destroyed it last time. But now I've lost Mr. Fluffy Boots, how are we going to destroy it?"

"The problem is that the red Pincher Bot can generate a spherical shield around itself," said Cathy. "The shield can block all laser bolts fired from our gadgets, so that the bot is safe in it."

"I wasn't there last time," said Sam. "But I'm sure that there's another way to bypass its shield and attack it directly."

"You could try to charge into its shield and punch it with your fists," joked Danny. John laughed uncontrollably.

"Danny!" cried Sam. "This is serious business. I really don't understand why you still have the mood for jokes. Don't you care about Elton?"

I really liked Danny's jokes, but I admired Sam's serious working attitude more. She was the kind of person that could lead us onto the right track whenever someone spoke something that was not related to our mission. She was the perfect unofficial leader of the MBC.

"It seems that the red Pincher Bot we're talking about isn't the real leader," said Cathy. "From the information given from this file, we can deduct that the red bot is controlled by someone else."

"Who could it be?" asked Danny.

"Here's something more important," I said after viewing a file. "I've located the Pincher Bots' main base. They're stationing in the main power station."

"That's it!" exclaimed Sam. "You've once said that the Pincher Bots need a lot of energy to function. They've infiltrated the power station to get enough energy so that they can move around in Single Town!"

"That means Elton is probably in the power station too," said Danny.

"Exactly," I said. "We'll have to infiltrate that station before the bots take Elton away."

"Hopefully we'll be able to find out who is behind all of this," said Cathy.

"But that creates another problem," said Danny. "If we're going to fight the bots in the power station, one little fault may cut the electricity supply to the whole town!"

"That's why we'll have to proceed cautiously," said Sam. "And aim before you pull the trigger."

"MBC, power up!" we shouted as we transformed into our uniform.

"John, you stay in the clubhouse and scan the floor plan of the power station," I said.

"Leave it to me," said John. "I can handle it."

The four of us jumped into our pods and raced to the power station. As soon as we arrived, we sneaked through the back door and entered the station. Then we walked silently through the corridors, guided by John.

"Chris, a-scan," said Sam. I took out the a-scanner.

"How can you possibly locate a Pincher Bot by using an a-scanner?" asked Danny. "They're made of metal, aren't they?"

"They really are made of metal," said Cathy. "But from the files we've just read, there's probably an alien controlling the red Pincher Bot, while the red bot controls the rest of them. So it must have left some alien traces on the red bot. We could find out its location by the a-scanner."

"Nice one, Cathy," said Sam.

The a-scanner suddenly beeped when we approached in front of a door.

"I have a reading," I said. "It's coming from two doors away."

"Let's get them!" shouted Danny.

Before anyone could stop him, Danny kicked open the door. A large clamp swung towards him. He jumped up to avoid it, and then took out a big gun to blast the Pincher Bot to the wall.

"Score one for the Danny!" he shouted.

"Watch out!" cried Cathy. "There are more bots coming towards us."

"Spread out and find cover!" shouted Sam.

I could count at least thirty bots in the room. Before their clamps managed to hit us, we quickly hid behind our own hiding place.

I aimed carefully at one bot and fired. The blue beam hit right onto its head to cause it to lose balance. The beam sent it flying across the room, and then it hit the wall hard and fell onto the floor.

"Nice one, Chris," said Danny. "But I've already got three of them."

"There's still more than twenty to go," I said.

**(Cathy POV)**

I ran behind a large machine to hide. Three Pincher Bots were heading towards me. I fired and blasted one of them away, but another one swung its clamp and sliced the machine in front of me into two. I was hit and was thrown to the other side of the room. The third bot nearly managed to catch me with its clamp just before Sam fired her weapon and blasted it away.

"Are you alright, Cathy?" asked Sam as she helped me to stand up.

"Yeah, thanks," I replied.

Suddenly, a large door opened in front of us and the red Pincher Bot came towards us. There was also the deadly weapon on its head, which emitted high-voltage electric beam. The first beam of lightning came towards us and landed on the floor between where Sam and I were standing. It exploded and Sam and I were sent flying to opposite sides of the room. We both screamed loudly, hoping that someone could help us.

"Cathy!" I heard Danny shouted.

"Sam!" I heard Chris shouted.

Before the red bot could strike again, Danny and Chris both fired their weapons at it. It created a spherical energy shield around itself to dodge the laser beams. Sam got up quickly and fired sonar waves at it but still the waves were blocked by the shield as well.

While they were battling the red bot, a large clamp from behind me picked me up and knocked my blaster out of my hand. I called for help, but I could only think of one name at that time.

"Danny, help!" I shouted.

I really didn't know why I particularly called Danny for help, instead of Sam or Chris. Perhaps Danny's presence made me feel safer, or perhaps that's because Danny had always managed to save me in the most dangerous situations, like when I faced the clones last time.

**(Danny POV)**

I heard Cathy scream so I quickly turned around. She was caught in the clamp of a blue Pincher Bot! Ignoring the red bot, I dashed towards her.

"Don't you dare touching her!" I shouted.

Carefully aiming at the bot's head, I fired and blasted it away. It dropped Cathy and she was falling freely in the air. I threw myself to the floor to catch her. She landed safely in my arms. Then she stared right at my eyes without saying a word, which surprised me.

"Cathy, are you OK?" I quickly asked.

"Yeah, thanks," she said with a sweet voice. "And … watch out!"

Cathy suddenly stretched out her arms and pushed two Pincher Bots behind me away. Then she picked up her blaster.

"A lot more are coming towards us!" I said. "Get ready!"

**(Chris POV)**

Danny suddenly ran away to leave Sam and I fighting the red bot. Its shield suddenly disappeared and it attacked us with lightning. We were thrown away and landed on the floor. To my surprise, the bot ignored us and headed straight for Cathy!

My v-com suddenly beeped. It was John.

"Chris, there's trouble in the clubhouse," he said. "I can't hold them off!"

"John, what is it?" I asked but there was no reply.

"John's in trouble," I said to Sam. "We better get back to the clubhouse."

"Cathy's in trouble too!" shouted Sam.

Danny was on the floor while all the Pincher Bots tried to catch Cathy. She jumped repeatedly to avoid their clamps, but the red bot fired its weapon again and the explosion threw her across the room and she fell. Danny just managed to catch her. We ran to them.

"There's no way we can win it," said Sam.

"John's in big trouble," I said. "We must return to the clubhouse."

"Alright then," said Danny. "You guys go first, I'll cover you."

Danny fired at the red bot to force it to regenerate its shield. The three of us ran quickly out of the power station, followed by Danny. Then we got into our pods. I was hoping that everything in the clubhouse would be just fine.

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	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

**(Sam POV)**

We jumped out of our pods and rushed into the clubhouse. And oh my god! There were at least ten Pincher Bots inside and John was tied up at one corner of the room. The bots had come to attack the clubhouse!

"Round two is about to begin!" shouted Danny.

"Be careful!" cried Chris. "Don't damage the computers!"

Chris seemed to care even more about computers then his little brother's safety. I really didn't know if he would consider his computers as more important possessions than his teammates. But still, he was a nice guy and had always cared about others.

We took out our blasters and got into our battle positions.

"On my mark …" I started but Danny interrupted me.

"Take this!" shouted Danny as he blasted the first bot away with his big gun. Then he turned to me.

"Sorry, Sam," he said. "You gave orders too slowly."

I didn't have time to say a word before a large clamp swung towards me and crushed my blaster into pieces. I fell onto the floor and a bot was going to hit me with its clamp. Cathy stretched her arms and grabbed its clamp. She threw the bot away and Chris blasted it into pieces.

"Two down," said Chris. "Eight more to go."

"Three down!" shouted Danny as he blasted one more bot away.

To my surprise, the remaining seven bots were all heading towards Cathy!

"Cathy, watch out!" I cried.

I threw myself in the air and kicked hard on the body of a bot. It didn't fall and pushed me to the floor.

"Don't kick their control panels," said Chris. "They're protected by energy shields, remember?"

"Yeah," said Danny. "Only attack their vulnerable upper body, like this!"

Just when a bot was about to grab Cathy by its clamp, Danny fired his weapon. The blue beam hit right on its head and the bot was blasted away.

So I did it again. But this time, I kicked hard on the upper body of a bot. It lost balance and act wildly. Its clamp swung on Chris and knocked him over. I dived to catch the big gun dropped by Chris, and then I turned to face the bot and blasted it away.

"Are you alright, Chris?" I asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he replied. "Nice shot by the way."

"Thanks," I said.

We looked at each other for a while before I realised that Cathy was surrounded by five bots and Danny was working hard to help her. Cathy stretched her arms and Danny pulled her away from the bots. Then Danny and I both fired at the bots to destroy two more.

"Hey guys, have you …" said Chris.

"Watch out!" cried Cathy. "It's behind you!"

Chris was in danger! But I was alert and I carefully aimed and fired my weapon to destroy the bot behind him. However, I did not realise that another bot was behind me until Cathy grabbed it with her arms and threw it away and Danny blasted it into pieces.

"Take this!" shouted Chris.

Chris threw a gas bomb near the last Pincher Bot but it didn't seem to be affected at all. It flew right towards Chris and grabbed him with its clamp. I did not dare to fire my weapon so I kicked hard on its arm. It let go of Chris and he fell onto the floor. Cathy grabbed the body of the bot and pulled it into two with great strength. Then I helped Chris to get up.

"I really shouldn't have thrown that gas bomb," said Chris.

Cathy turned on a vacuum pump to suck all the poisonous gas into it so that the air inside the clubhouse could remain fresh. I went to the computer.

"Check this out!" I shouted. "The Pincher Bots were viewing our personal files. What do they want with us?"

"Not exactly," said Chris. "From the file viewing history, the bots only viewed Cathy's personal file."

Hearing her name, Cathy ran towards us.

"You mean that the Pincher Bots were looking for me only?" said Cathy.

"There is a possibility that …" said Chris.

"Hello there," Danny interrupted Chris. "I think you guys forgot that someone still needs our help right here."

The three of us turned around to look at Danny and I noticed that he was standing next to John, still tied up.

'Of course,' I thought. 'John's still in trouble.'

Danny removed the plaster on John's mouth and untied the ropes around him. Once John was set free, he walked towards us, looking crossed.

"Sorry bro," said John. "We were just …"

"Yeah, yeah," said John. "You don't have to explain. You're just …"

"Not as smart as the Danny," Danny finished his sentence.

"Actually, I was saying that …" said John.

"Alright," I said. "We're sorry that we didn't come for you quick enough, John. But now that Elton is in danger, we must work out another plan."

"From our last assault to the power station, it seems that the Pincher Bots were focusing on Cathy," said Danny. "And my intelligent brain concludes that the bots are probably hunting for Rhapsodians."

"That's correct," said Chris. "On the other hand, the Pincher Bots attacked the clubhouse to search for information about Cathy. They've definitely come to capture Rhapsodians."

Danny and Chris were both smart to come to a conclusion. However, what I appreciated was that Chris never showed off his abilities, and that he never admitted that he was smart at all, unlike Danny.

"Cathy, you once said that an alien might be controlling the Pincher Bots," I said. "Who could this alien be? Cathy?"

I turned around to see that Cathy and John were busily vacuvating the damaged Pincher Bots scattered on the floor.

"I don't really know," said Cathy. "Maybe we should ask Grandpa. He knows more about aliens hunting Rhapsodians."

Then Cathy ran out of the clubhouse to look for Mr. Smith.

**(Danny POV)**

"No matter who the alien is," I said. "We need to return to the power station to find out more."

"But how are we going to get pass the red Pincher Bot?" asked Chris.

"Don't worry," said John. "Super John is coming too."

"You can't even handle ten blue Pincher Bots in the clubhouse," said Chris. "How can you defeat their leader?"

Just then, Cathy and Mr. Smith came into the clubhouse.

"Yay!" cried Cathy. "Grandpa knows a lot about Pincher Bots."

"I'm so glad to see you, Mr. Smith," I said. "How can we defeat the red Pincher Bot?"

"You cannot win them," Mr. Smith interrupted me. "The advanced model is just too strong for you to handle."

"There's got to be a way," said Chris.

"Maybe you need to use some more advanced gadgets," said Mr. Smith. "The shield generated by the red bot is almost impenetrable."

"I'm afraid we've already had the most advanced gadgets," said Chris.

Mr. Smith suddenly laughed loudly, which surprised me.

"What's so funny, Mr. Smith?" I asked.

"Nothing," he replied. "I just want to wish you good luck!"

"But we really need your help, Mr. Smith," said Sam.

"In what ways can I help?" asked Mr. Smith.

"Well, you could come with us to fight the Pincher Bots," said Cathy. "Just like the last time you did when we were fighting the clones."

"I'm not sure that I can go to the power station," said Mr. Smith.

"Did you tell him that we fought the Pincher Bots in the power station?" I whispered to Cathy.

"No," Cathy whispered to me. "How did he know about it?"

I thought for a while and suddenly realised something.

"Mr. Smith," I said firmly. "Who told you that the Pincher Bots are hiding in the power station?"

Mr. Smith was stunned for a while and then his face began to change. He was red with anger.

"Because I was the alien controlling the Pincher Bots!" he shouted.

His body suddenly grew larger and larger and his muscles gradually became more transparent. In front of us stood a giant body with light blue skin, transparent muscles and coloured organs.

"Gluten!" we all shouted.

"Where's my Grandpa?" asked Cathy.

"Oh don't worry," said Gluten. "He's safe aboard my spaceship! Now come with me, Rhapsodian girl, before I forced you to!"

"Not so fast!" I shouted.

I took out my blaster that I was hiding behind my back and aimed at him. But before I could pull the trigger, Gluten coughed out some sticky stuff at me and I was stuck to the wall. Then his mouth quickly fired at Sam, Chris and John and they were stuck to the wall as well! While we were trying hard to free ourselves, Gluten walked close to Cathy and rolled sticky stuff all around her body. I couldn't even see her face, but I could hear her scream.

"Let her go!" I shouted.

"Or else what?" asked Gluten.

"This Rhapsodian will join the other two in my spaceship, and I'm sure they'll be happy together in the Rhapsodian labour market," said Gluten. "I will gain the profit, and there's nothing that you can do to stop me!"

"No! Cathy!" I shouted.

"Danny!" shouted Cathy. "Help me!"

'Danny, think of something,' I thought. 'You can't just let Gluten take Cathy away, can you?'

I twisted and turned but there was no way to be freed from the sticky stuff. The four of us watched as Gluten carried Cathy out of the clubhouse. Then the door closed behind them.

**End of episode.**

**The next episode will be a sequel to this one.**

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